2021 WSOP Online [International]: Georgios Sotiropoulos lands career second bracelet; Kacper Pyzara wins one; Eduardo Pires banks $1.3M

Sunday night bracelet hunt at the 2021 World Series of Poker Online [International] concluded with Grecian pro Georgios Manousos Sotiropoulos locking up his career second, Kacper Pyzara gave Poland its second gold, and Brazil’s Eduardo Augusto Pires conquered the MILLIONAIRE MAKER event for a jaw dropping US$ 1,384,013 payout. Along with the cash and the gold, Pires also won a Natural8 Team Bling sponsorship worth US$ 10,000. He has overtaken Joao Simao for the top spot in the N8 Latin America leaderboard. On the bracelet tally, Brazil has won three and Poland with two. Check out our latest event recap, N8 leaderboards, and other festival stats down below. 

The international bracelet series is ongoing from August 1 to September 12 at Natural8 [GG Network] featuring US$ 53+ Million in guaranteed prize pools. Over US$ 14.2 Million has already been paid out, with 5 events pulling in seven figures. 26 bracelets remain. For players that sign up on Natural8, expect plenty of added perks amounting to US$ 400,000 in exclusive prizes. Natural8 players Joao Simao and Eduardo Augusto Pires have already won one of the Team Bling US$ 10,000 Sponsorship Packages. You can read up on those perks at the bottom of the page or via this link: 

Natural8 offers $400,000 incentive to play 2021 WSOP Online

Event Recaps

WSOP #5: $315 Bounty Deepstack No Limit Hold’em – Kacper Pyzara – US$ 79,789

The fifth bracelet event – WSOP #5: $315 Bounty Deepstack No Limit Hold’em – was a big attraction with a thunderous 2,989 entries (2,001 uniques, 988 re-entries) for a prize pool of US$ 896,700. After two days of play, Polish pro Kacper Pyzara shipped it to claim the US$ 36,285 first prize and his first ever gold bracelet. In addition, Pyzara collected even more in bounties, amounting to US$ 43,504, for a combined US$ 79,789 in winnings. This bumped up his total tracked earnings on The Hendon Mob to well over US$ 1 Million. 

Picking up the action on the final day, 45 players logged back in led by China’s Baoyang “baoyang666” Xu and Cambodia’s “ClassicSick” each with massive stacks over 160 bb. Two WSOP decorated players made the cut, bracelet winner/ six time ring winner Arkadiy “Kamsky” Tsinis and double ring winner William Wolf. 

Within the first 20 minutes, Kacper Pyzara zoomed from 19th rank to 4th rank then stayed within the top 10 until the final 9 was determined. Another player making an early jump was China’s “mars917” who started at 24th rank and moved up to 9th rank. Leading up to the final table, Wolf fell in 20th place, ClassicSick followed in 18th, India’s Sriharsha “Upswinger” Doddapaneni dropped out in 16th place, and “mars917” bubbled to the final nine. 

The final table opened with Russia’s Evgeny “pro_nl” Kochubey way out front followed by the day’s entering chip leader Xu in second rank. On the opposite end were Pyzara and Tsinis. Wedged in the middle were two Japanese players, Takahiko “tanyaodora3” Nishiyama who sold 60% of his action, and high roller Takao “shimuzu9” Shimizu, whose many achievements included a 2nd place finish at the 2018 WPT Vietnam Main Event. 

Kobuchey dominated the action, eliminating four players on the way to heads up. Within the first half hour, the Russian ballooned to over 30 percent of the chips in play by booting Vicente Delgado (9th) then Martina “Dopierdole” Ciklaminiova (7th) after Tsinis fell in 8th place to Moti “rtm6789” Ohayon. Pyzara had Nishiyama’s number, scoring a double up off him before taking it all. Kobuchey claimed the next two, cleaning out Shimizu with , and Xu with spades flush over . Despite Kobuchey’s attempts, he had difficulty finishing off Ohayon, instead boosting the short stack twice. Pyzara finished the job to face Kobuchey at heads up. 

The final chase opened with Kobuchey ahead 64 bb to Pyzara’s 54 bb. Kobuchey quickly widened the gap then got sliced in half when Pyzara scored a double up holding two pair over missed draw on a board . With the advantage switched, Pyzara stayed ahead while Kobuchey continued his aggressive pursuit. After 30 minutes of heads up, Pyzara closed it out with prevailing over (hand pictured above). 

Date: August 7 to 8
Buy in: US$ 315
Entries: 2,989 (2,001 uniques, 988 re-entries)
Prize pool: US$ 896,700
ITM: 368 places
Running time: 5 hours and 6 minutes

Final table payouts

1st Kacper Pyzara – Poland – US$ 36,285 + US$ 43,504 bounties = US$ 79,789
2nd Evgeny “pro_nl” Kochubey – Russia – US$ 36,194 + US$ 16,951 bounties = US$ 53,145
3rd Moti “rtm6789” Ohayon – Israel – US$ 26,386 + US$ 5,801 bounties = US$ 32,187
4th Baoyang “baoyang666” Xu – China – US$ 19,212 + US$ 9,886 bounties = US$ 29,098
5th Takao “shimuzu9” Shimizu – Japan – US$ 13,989 + US$ 2,794 bounties = US$ 16,783
6th Takahiko “tanyaodora3” Nishiyama – Japan – US$ 10,186 + US$ 3,815 bounties = US$ 14,001
7th Martina “Dopierdole” Ciklaminiova – Slovakia –  US$ 7,417 + US$ 3,131bounties = US$ 10,548
8th Arkadiy “Kamsky” Tsinis – USA – US$ 5,400 + US$ 2,652  bounties = US$ 8,052
9th Vicente Delgado – Spain – US$ 3,932 + US$ 5,151 bounties = US$ 9,083

WSOP #6: $200 FLIP & GO No Limit Hold’em – Georgios Sotiropoulos – US$ 117,022

The newest addition to the bracelet lineup was the WSOP #6: $200 FLIP & GO No Limit Hold’em and it certainly did not disappoint, pulling in 6,368 total entries to smash the one million guarantee. 326 players advanced to the Go Stage with each one guaranteed a piece of the boosted US$ 1,209,920 prize pool. After a quick 2.5 hours, Georgios Manousos Sotiropoulos won it for his career second gold bracelet and a six figure payout of US$ 117,022. 

Hailing from Greece, Sotiropoulos is one of the country’s highest ranked pros with over US$ 2.8 Million in tracked THM live earnings. Included in that list is a bracelet win at the 2015 WSOP Europe € 1,100 No Limit Hold’em for € 112,133 (~US$ 128,250). This remains his largest WSOP score. Out of his many accomplishments, his 2013 EPT Prague Main Event runner-up finish earned him the most of € 700,000 (~US$ 959,200). 

Briefly recapping the Go Stage action, 326 advanced with the average stack at 40 BB. With blinds increasing every five minutes, the final table was set in just over two hours. Sotiropoulos and double bracelet winner Chris Moorman were the only WSOP decorated players in the lineup. Erwann Pecheux was chip leader with 18 BB which was double the average stack of 9 BB. From the get-go, it was nothing short of a gold rush as players shoved at nearly every hand. Sotiropoulos railed six players including Moorman in 4th place and Taiwan’s Yen-liang “yao_poker” Yao in 2nd place. The final hand was Sotiropoulos , Yao , the board . Notable players in the top 100 were Jack Salter (11th), Wei Zhao (15th), Mike Leah (27th), Stefan Schillhabel (63rd), Ryan Riess (83rd), and Daniel Negreanu (97th). 

Date: August 8
Buy in: US$ 200
Guarantee: US$ 1,000,000 
Entries: 6,368 (2,696 uniques)
Prize pool: US$ 1,209,920
ITM: 326 players
Running time: 2 hours and 31 minutes

Final table payouts

1st Georgios Manousos Sotiropoulos – Greece – US$ 117,022
2nd Yen-liang “yao_poker” Yao – Taiwan – US$ 90,371
3rd Michiel “Easterdamnz” Van Elsacker – Luxembourg – US$ 68,791
4th Chris Moorman – UK – US$ 53,898
5th Wiktor Malinowski – Poland – US$ 41,623.57
6th Erwann Pecheux – France – US$ 32,144
7th Quentin “HilltopHood” Roussey – France – US$ 24,824
8th Markus Prinz – Austria – US$ 19,171
9th Wing Tat “esviagra” Yeung – Canada – US$ 14,805

WSOP #7: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER NLH – Eduardo Pires – US$ 1,384,013

Brazilian player Eduardo Augusto Pires was the envy of all after he slayed the WSOP #7: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER NLH event to capture his first ever gold bracelet and a life-changing US$ 1,384,013 payout. Prior to this win, Pires had only posted US$ 83K in tracked live and online winnings. Now he has a seven figure bankroll. It is for dreamers like Pires that the MM event will always be a mainstay, and with a guaranteed one million up top, it will always draw a big crowd. Additionally, as a Natural8 player, Pires won himself a Team Bling US$ 10,000 Sponsorship Package. 

After seven days of qualifying heats, the MILLIONAIRE MAKER event amassed 5,437 entries to absolutely crush the US$ 5 Million on offer. The prize pool ballooned to US$ 7,747,725 with the top 656 players paid. The one million guaranteed payout to the champion got a boost as well to US$ 1.3 Million. The final day opened with 953 players led by Norway’s Joachim Haraldstad. 

Date: August 2 to 8</span
Buy in: US$ 1,500
Guarantee: US$ 5,000,000 
Entries: 5,437 (4,501 uniques, 936 re-entries)
Prize pool: US$ 7,747,725
ITM: 656 players
Running time: 9 hours and 42 minutes

The final day ran a lengthy 9 hours and 42 minutes. Once the money flowed, many high profilers cashed in. Among the Asia Pacific contenders running deep were Joshua McCully (18th), Wayne Heung (32nd), Soo Jo “choleeek89” Kim (38th), Abhishek “muckmuckgo” Goindi (78th), Xuming “scplayer” Qi (154th), Vincent “Moist” Huang, Wei Zhao (263rd), Huahuan “F7588” Feng, Anson Tsang (363rd), Abhinav “OBellaCiao” Iyer (435th), Danny Tang (436th), Gaurav “Haversham” Sood (442nd), Sung Joo “ArtePokerTv” Hyun (533rd), and Pete Chen (551st). 

The final table was formed at the fall of Italy’s Giovanni “harcos85” Petroni in 10th place to Bulgarian pro Lachezar “Psychedelica” Petkov. Petroni risked it all with that failed to improve against Petkov’s . All of the advancing players were seeking their first gold bracelet and everyone except Petkov had never felt the glory of a seven figure takedown. 

Clocking in at just under 2.5 hours, Tauan Naves was in the driver’s seat and hoped to pile in more on the second hand, however Paul “PaulRisman” Fisher-Risman doubled up instead with pocket Nines dominating pocket Fives. It took over half an hour for the first casualty with Oskar “brudhi030” Prehm (9th) eliminated by Naves. Tomas “CornoaMyAss” Jozonis (8th) was out next with all his chips sent to Victor Begara. Naves claimed his second bust out, railing Petkov (7th) with A-J over A-9, which then led to a long six handed match. 

As chips shuffled around the virtual felt, Pires scored a big pot off Lukas “rustyhusky” Hafner to send his stack soaring to 48 bb with the average at just 22 bb. Pires grew further by cleaning out Begara in 6th place. At five remaining, Hafner went on a rush that ended Fisher-Risman in 5th place and  Xiongbin “zxb8553624” Zhang (4th). Hafner first cracked Fisher-Risman’s with straight on a board , shoves seen at the turn, then took the rest with A-K dominating A-7. A few minutes later, his A-5 spiked a five on the flop to overtake Zhang’s A-9. After Pires eliminated the short stacked Naves in 3rd place, he entered heads up slightly edging Hafner. 

First big pot switched them up. Hafner gambled on a bluff and failed. The hand saw a board with heavy bets by Hafner at every stage. Hafner had missed straight, Pires with top pair. From there, Pires widened the gap. The final hand saw Pires raise, Hafner called. The flop came Hafner check-raised, Pires called. On the turn , Hafner led out, Pires called. On the river , Hafner checked, Pires jammed, Hafner called, Pires had straight that beat Hafner’s second pair. 

Final table payouts

1st Eduardo Augusto Pires – Brazil – US$ 1,384,013
2nd Lukas “rustyhusky” Hafner – Austria – US$ 984,469
3rd Tauan Naves – Brazil – US$ 700,270
4th Xiongbin “zxb8553624” Zhang – China – US$ 498,114
5th Paul “PaulRisman” Fisher-Risman – Canada – US$ 354,317
6th Victor Begara – USA – US$ 252,031
7th Lachezar “Psychedelica” Petkov – Bulgaria – US$ 179,275
8th Tomas “CornoaMyAss” Jozonis – Lithuania – US$ 127,521
9th Oskar “brudhi030” Prehm – Austria – US$ 90,708

2021 WSOP Online bracelet events stats

WSOP #1 – #7 prize pool: US$ 14,290,349
Cumulative entries: 49,011
Biggest field: WSOP #1: $50 The Return NLH – 30,810 entries
Biggest pot: WSOP #7: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER NLH – US$ 7,747,725
Smallest field: WSOP #3: $2500 Limit Hold’em Championship – 180 entries
Smallest pot: WSOP #3: $2500 Limit Hold’em Championship – US$ 427,500
First time bracelet winners: 5
Largest payout: WSOP #7: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER NLH – Eduardo Pires – US$ 1,384,013

2021 WSOP Online champions

WSOP #1: $50 The Return NLH – Bartlomiej “Chester20o” Swieboda – Poland – US$ 161,110
WSOP #2: $1,111 Caesars Cares Charity Event – Joao Simao – Brazil – US$ 206,075
WSOP #3: $2500 Limit Hold’em Championship – Nicolo Molinelli – Italy – US$ 88,461
WSOP #4: $800 DOUBLE CHANCE NLH – Thiago “IneedWasabi” Macedo – Brazil – US$ 161,636
WSOP #5: $315 Bounty Deepstack No Limit Hold’em – Kacper Pyzara – Poland – US$ 79,789
WSOP #6: $200 FLIP & GO No Limit Hold’em – Georgios Sotiropoulos – Greece – US$ 117,022
WSOP #7: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER NLH – Eduardo Pires – Brazil – US$ 1,384,013

Second career bracelet won

Nicolo Molinelli – WSOP #3: $2500 Limit Hold’em Championship
Georgios Manousos Sotiropoulos – WSOP #6: $200 FLIP & GO No Limit Hold’em

Bracelets by Country

Brazil – 3
Poland – 2
Italy – 1 
Greece – 1 

Seven figure prize pools

WSOP #1: $50 The Return NLH – US$ 1,417,260
WSOP #2: Caesars Cares Charity Event  – US$ 1,759,824
WSOP #4: $800 Double Chance NLH – US$ 1,248,680
WSOP #6: $200 FLIP & GO No Limit Hold’em – US$ 1,209,920
WSOP #7: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER NLH – US$ 7,747,725

Natural8 Exclusive Promo results

Natural8 Team Bling Sponsorship Package winners

Joao Simao – WSOP #2: Caesars Cares Charity Event – US$ 10,000 Sponsorship
Eduardo Augusto Pires – WSOP #7: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER NLH – US$ 10,000 Sponsorship

Natural8 WSOP Amazing Race Leaderboard update (current top 3 for each category)

Asia Pacific 

Joshua McCully – New Zealand – 3,520.71 points
“Imar54” – New Zealand – 1,445.80 points
Stevan Chew – Indonesia – 980.57 points

Latin America

Eduardo Augusto Pires – Brazil – 3,618.51
Joao Simao – Brazil – 2,184.96
Rafael “riskgambler” Furlanetto – Brazil – 1,922.23

Rest of World

Tomas “CoronaMyAss” Jozonis – Lithuania – 2,180.88
Isaac Haxton – Canada – 1,356.28
Vincas “seimininkas” Tamasauskas – Lithuania – 1,285.36

Taiwan 

Chih Wei “FanChihWei” Fan – 718.74
“Tze-wei” – 568.64
Kristof “ultrafish” Segers – 531.22

Thailand 

“Tanik” – 306.1
“BraydenEiei” – 303.34
LuffyJd” – 301.61

Vietnam
Cuong “CLVT” Trinh – 925.98
“AndyPokerV” – 570.72
“LittleFishVN” – 521

Japan 

Shota “shorta222” Nakanishi – 479.91
“Tezyy” – 452.5
Takashi “IKAIKA” Ogura – 387.28

Hong Kong 

Dicky Siu Hang “Floatinworld” Tsang – 2,459.74
Vincent Li – 655.15
Wayne Heung – 492.05

India

Abhinav “OBellaCiao” Iyer – 1,003.35
Sriharsha “Upswinger” Doddapaneni – 710.38
“ISILDUR999” – 523.03

*China results merged with the APAC category

Exclusive Natural8 promos

To give more value to your buck, Natural8 players can expect added incentives amounting to US$ 400,000 up for grabs throughout the series. We’ve broken them down right here. 

WSOP Team Bling Sponsorship

Win any of the 2021 WSOP Online bracelet events and you are assured entry to Team Bling along with one of these fine sponsorship packages listed: 

Main Event = $100,000 Team Bling Sponsorship*

Win the WSOP Main Event and you’ll not only become a part of Team Bling, you’ll be the CAPTAIN of the team. This exclusive package includes:

12 month Team Bling Sponsorship
$25,000 for live event buy in sponsorships
$5,000 to cover expenses
T$70,000 in online event sponsorships, paid out over 12 months

Buy-ins of $1,000 and above = $10,000 Team Bling Sponsorship*

Win a WSOP Bracelet from any event with a buy-in of $1,000 and above, and you’ll get a Team Bling package that includes:

6 month Team Bling Sponsorship
$7,500 for live event buy in sponsorships
$2,500 to cover expenses

Buy-ins from $50 to $999 = $5,000 Team Bling Sponsorship*

Win a WSOP Bracelet from any event with a buy-in of $999 and below, and you’ll get a Team Bling package that includes:

6 month Team Bling Sponsorship
$3,500 for live event buy in sponsorships
$1,500 to cover expenses

WSOP Amazing Race

Top the leaderboards to win a piece of the US$ 75,000 prize pool! There are ten leaderboards running throughout the series with varying prizes. Points can only be earned at bracelet events and WSOP side events. Three different LiveX packages up for grabs are listed: 

US$ 5,000 LiveX Gold which includesUS$ 3,500 live event buy in sponsorship and US$ 1,500 in expenses. 

US$ 3,000 LiveX Silver which includes US$ 2,000 live event buy in sponsorship and US$ 1,000 in expenses. 

US$ 2,000 LiveX Bronze which includes US$ 1,500 live event buy in sponsorship and US$ 500 in expenses. 

WSOP 2-in1 Challenge

Win a share of US$ 30,000 via the WSOP 2-in-1 incentive. This unique perk is only offered in Natural8. To start off, play any of the WSOP bracelet events and WSOP side events to earn points. As written on the website,

“Take part in any WSOP Branded Tournaments to earn points and boost those points by playing in cash games. We’ll multiply the points you’ve earned by playing tournaments with the points from cash games to reveal your chipstack for the final WSOP 2-in-1 Challenge Flipout.“

Natural8 offers $400,000 incentive to play 2021 WSOP Online

Plenty of action ahead so stick with us at Somuchpoker as we bring you recaps of the ongoing 2021 WSOP Online [International] on Natural8.